Dragons and Daffodils
by emmacrade24
Summary: A Dragon Trainer in the making, an Auror wannabe, and a Healer hopeful all future Order of the Phoenix members. This story follows Charlie Weasley, Nymphadora Tonks, and Emelia Abbott from Hogwarts to the Final Battle. Read about the Second Wizarding War through different eyes. Told in the perspective of Emelia. Rated T for mild language, violence and romance in future chapters.
1. The Sorting

Hey guys! This is my first Harry Potter story. It follows Charlie Weasley, Tonks, and Emelia Abbott through their Hogwarts years and through the final battle. I've been wanting to write a story about the older Harry Potter generation and explore the Second Wizarding War through their eyes. It centers around Emelia who is my own made up character and her life in the HP world. Hopefully you guys enjoy! So please read and review!

 _(September 1, 1984 King's Cross Station, 10:57 a.m.)_

 _9 ¾!_ I thought excitedly, pushing my rickety cart through the not-all-there pillar onto the crowded platform, mother and father coming up right behind me beaming; Katie and Ben had already run off to find their friends leaving me behind with our parents. Here I stood awestruck, once again, staring at the very large Hogwarts Express train. I had seen it before several times, when I came with to drop off Katie and Ben, but this time I was actually going to be able to ride it!

If there had been a mirror, I'm positive it would have shown me, a scrawny blonde eleven year old with a silly little smile on her face and her pale green eyes wide with her joy.

"Darling are you sure you have everything with you?" My ever worrying mother queried. She was as nervous as always, awkwardly wringing her wrists so. My Ravenclaw mother always had to be a hundred percent sure that I was completely prepared.

"Yes, mum, I've checked four times already. Even Katie looked over my chest for me." I assured her, keeping myself from rolling my eyes. She responded with a smile and hugged me tightly, squeezing the breath out of me. "Mum I can't breathe!" I complained bashfully, getting a chuckle out of my father.

Mum let me go and both she and Dad resumed their "We're so proud of you, don't worry about the sorting," speech that I had been subjected to for the third or fourth time this week. My brother Benjamin is a Gryffindor, and my sister is in Ravenclaw so there's no pressure to get into a certain house, so they kept telling me. Luckily I didn't have to listen long before Katie and Ben's brunette heads came bobbing back through the crowd to say their goodbyes.

And it was very dramatic goodbye at that! The whistle of the train cut our time short and before I knew it, unsurprisingly, Mother burst into tears and pulled me into another bear hug. It left me feeling like a squashed bug on a windshield and a very crinkled jumper. One second I was being hugged by my parents, and now Katie was shoving me onto the Express quite hurriedly.

I barely had enough time to pull up my bags beside me before I noticed was standing alone in the walkway. Looking around I noticed that Katie and Ben had ditched me for their friends. It amazes me how quickly they can disappear, it's like they've secretly learned how to disapparate. Katie is a third year and Ben a fifth year, so I figured they'd want to sit with their classmates, but I had been hoping they'd bring me along with them. A slight frown formed on the corners of my lips as I realized I would probably end up sitting with strangers. _I guess I'll have to make friends then._ I thought shaking out of my bruised feelings. _I do wish that Katie and Ben had waited for me to sit with them though._

Dragging my luggage behind me, I made my way to the closest compartment, hoping to find my siblings or at the very least an available seat. It was quite the struggle though, considering my trunk weighed more than I did. _I can't wait until I can levitate this heavy chest,_ was the exasperated thought that passed through my mind as I dug my heels into the floor to try to move faster down the walkway. I briefly thought about pulling out my cherry and unicorn haired wand to attempt a levitation spell, I had seen family members do it enough times. But thought better of it, I'd rather not accidentally have my things blasted off the train.

Instead of buying my own chest, Ben got a new one, so I was bequeathed with his old one that is notorious for having sticky wheels. I felt like a lame horse still attempting to pull along its haul.

The first few compartments were filled with boisterous students, all excitedly chatting and catching up. None of them were Ben or Katie. Every once in a while there would be a muffled explosion and smoke coming under the doors, no doubt a spell gone awry. After a while I noticed that most compartments were pretty full and the hallway was starting to clear out as people found their own seats.

And still no Ben or Katie! _I bet they're hiding from me. They don't want to sit with their little sister how rude!_ I thought indignantly. So I schlepped over to the one calmest looking door, figuring I better sit down before the train started moving.

I tried to push back the nervousness that had crept into my stomach, _I hope it's not Slytherins, I bet that sounds prejudice, I'm sure not all of them are unfriendly, but…_ a shaky breath left my lips… _please don't be Slytherins._ These were my thoughts right before I knocked on the glass door. The curtain was down, so I couldn't see in, leaving the residence a brief mystery.

The talking died down in the compartment and a red headed boy opened the door. He was about half a foot taller than me, with pale skin, and handsome features. He was lanky though, and it gave away his young age. He was staring down at me with a curious look in his blue eyes.

"Can we help you?" Was his question as he leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed over his wizard band t-shirt. There were other faces peering around the boy from inside the compartment, trying to get a look at who had knocked on their door.

"I was wondering if I could sit you all," I said shyly, glancing down at my feet awkwardly. "I don't really have anywhere to go." I admitted honestly. The red head looked surprised at my statement but he smiled and turned back to his group.

"What do you lot think?" There was some murmuring and after a short debate, the rocker boy smiled charmingly and opened up the door more, allowing me in. I smiled back and tugged on my chest, when it didn't budge the boy chuckled and picked it up for me.

"These stupid things are always a hassle," He commented, "I'm Bill Weasley by the way, and that there is my brother Charlie," He announced nodding his head in the direction of another red head, one with much messier hair, as he slid my belongings into the storage space. "And those two are Tommy Wynter and Ernie Smoaks." He finished falling lazily back on the seats. The two boys, Tommy, dark haired and dark skinned, the other fairly tanned with cool steel eyes, gave their 'hellos'.

"A pleasure to meet you all, I'm Emelia Abbott." I replied settling down next to the younger Weasley. It was a bit awkward sitting in a room full of strangers, none the less all boys!

"Oh an Abbott of course! Your sister's in our year." Ernie commented, with a goofy expression. _They seem young for third years, except maybe Bill because he's so tall, but Tommy and Ernie could be my age!_ "Katie's quite the looker" He added slyly.

"Yeah and she also has quite the left hook!" Bill interjected with a laugh causing Ernie to take on a sour, puckered look. The dark haired boy rubbed his face absentmindedly and grumbled a, "don't remind me." I giggled at this, Katie had sent a letter home last year proudly stating that a boy had tried to kiss her under the mistletoes at the Christmas Feast, so she punched him in the face. Of course Professor Flitwick gave her detention for acting with violence, but he also gave it to her on a Monday afternoon in his classroom with cinnamon tea and biscuits.

"So Emelia, you're a first year right?" Bill questioned once the boys' laughter had died down.

"Mhmm." I agreed playing with the ends of my sweater. I never much liked the attention to be on me completely.

"You're in little Charlie's year then!" Tommy exclaimed. This incited a huff from the red head beside me who crossed his arms with an annoyed expression.

"I am not little, Tommy!" Charlie argued crossly, his wide nose flaring indignantly. Tommy went as far as to reach over and pat Charlie's head, only to have his hand swiped at. They quibbled for a little longer before Bill grew tired of their banter and changed the subject, unfortunately back to me.

"What house are you hoping to get into to?" Bill inquired, sprawled out his lanky body took up more than half the bench. I went to answer but Charlie beat me to it.

"Careful now, it's a trick question. If you say Slytherin, we'll kick you out." He teased waving a finger in fake accusation. I shook my head adamantly in denial, _Slytherin is the only house I am sure I won't get._

"No I don't think Slytherin is on my list, but I wouldn't mind being placed into any one of the other houses." I remarked truthfully. _I wouldn't mind being in Gryffindor, they seem like a good bunch. But I wouldn't mind Ravenclaw or even Hufflepuff. But definitely not Slytherin._

"You don't have a specific house in mind?" Charlie asked in a kind of scandalized tone, blue eyes wide and confused. The corners of my lips turned up at this super freckled almost tanned looking boy.

"My family has been in Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Hufflepuff so it doesn't matter where I am sorted." I shrugged, "Though if I had to guess, I think I'll be sorted into Hufflepuff." And with that statement all of the boys took on Charlie's scandalized expression. I knew where they were coming from, most wizards thought that Hufflepuffs were the boring and bootless house, but I see them more as the nice and loyal and I would rather be in a house with a motto like that.

"I don't find myself competitive enough for Gryffindor, or smart enough for Ravenclaw." I explained. The boys gave me strange looks that were oddly amusing. They then looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"You're clearly not smart enough if you want to join _Hufflepuff_!" Tommy cackled, wiping at his eye. _I suppose I should be offended, but by the way he said it, I knew he didn't mean it._ "Not many people want to be a Hufflepuff."

I shrugged at that, I'm still sticking with Hufflepuff, who wouldn't want to be around the honest and loyal? After the boys lost humor in my life decisions they started talking about Quidditch. Not being a huge fan myself, I promptly fell asleep. I was woken a few hours later by Charlie telling me to change into my robes.

The following events were mostly a blur. We were off the train soon enough and were loaded onto the boats. Now that was a creepy experience! I feel as if I should have been more impressed with the whole ordeal, but it was way too scary to be exciting! The loch is not a warm and fuzzy feely kind of place.

Thankfully though were off the boats quickly, not fast enough in my opinion though, I swear I saw the merfolk underneath us, just waiting for a student to fall in! Though that just may have been my hyper imagination gone wild. Why would they pay us any attention?

But then they brought us somewhere even scarier! They put us all in front of a very intimidating and stern looking Professor McGonagall. Her hat was much pointier than Ben had said, and her stare was even scarier in person!

Glancing over at Charlie he seemed to be a little nervous seeing the Gryffindor Head of House, the boats hadn't bothered him as much as it had me, but were equally terrified of McGonagall. _I'm a bit of a scaredy cat, I'll admit it!_ Charlie seemed properly nervous as well. _A natural response I suppose, we're all about to be judged in front of the entire population of Hogwarts._

I didn't take long before Professor McGonagall wrapped up her brisk orientation and soon enough our little mob of eleven year olds were being squeezed through the entrance to the Great Hall.

I tried to look around and see my siblings, but there were too many kids blocking my view and I was much too short to see over them. Charlie looked as if he was attempting the same thing, he gave a short awkward wave so I found it safe to assume he spotted Bill and the boys.

The Great Hall was enormous! And fantastic as well! The floating candles and self-hanging banners were quite the display! And the smell! It was heavenly, and only made my stomach growl in anticipation. And the ghosts! They were everywhere, flying around through walls and table, it was amazing!

When our little procession came to a stop, I suddenly came to the realization that I would most likely be the first student sorted. I sucked in a nervous breath and tensed immediately. Why hadn't I thought of this before! _I can't be first! I'm not ready!_ I didn't have much time to fret over it though because sooner than I'd like, Professor McGonagall was calling out my name. I hadn't even registered that the Sorting Hat had sang his song! The Great Hall and the Ghost had been so distracting, she hadn't remembered to mentally prepare!

"Emelia Abott." McGonagall read in her intimidating Scottish accent.

A rush of adrenalin ran through me as my nerves reached an all-time high. I shot a frantic look over at the Weasley boy, he looked a little less anxious than myself but _his_ name hadn't just been summoned. The red head sent me a toothy grin and gave me a light, encouraging shove towards the sorting hat when I made no attempt to move.

I forced a deep shaky breath out and shuffled forward, moving past the other first years. Professor Dumbledore nodded for me to approach the hat and I tried to not to gape at the old wizard.

"Come now little Abott, right this way." The bearded man said. _He's even older than I thought! I bet he knows every spell in the world!_ Of course I didn't mean old as an insult, but Ben had said that our headmaster was over one hundred years old!

I turned my head to look out at the Great Hall and instantly saw my older siblings waving and grinning at me. _That's encouraging at least,_ I thought, taking comfort in my family and trying to ignore the loads of students staring up at me. My face was really warm, so I could only imagine the red tint my face had taken on.

When I was situated on the small stool, my little legs dangling, the sorting hat was placed on my head, and it was so big it slipped down my face!

"Ah, another Abott! Wonderful, wonderful!" The Sorting Hat chortled. My blush instantly intensified and my eyes widened.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you Mister Sorting Hat." I greeted shyly, ringing my wrists in my lap. The Sorting Hat chuckled and moved around a bit on my head. _Such an odd feeling to have a hat move itself!_

"Such a polite child, nothing like your brother, he demanded to be put into Griffindor you know." By the way the Hat said it though, it sounded like a lot of children asked to be placed in a certain house. "Now let's see," The Hat continued, "Kind…hard-working….very patient, a unique quality for one so young…hmmm yes, the best choice for you is…..HUFFLEPUFF!"

My shoulders relaxed in relief. _Hufflepuff! Just like I said! And I love yellow!_

"Thank you Mister Sorting Hat!" I said graciously as the Hat was lifting off, causing the hat to once again chuckle. A grin was stretched across my face, making my cheeks look like little apples.

I got down and made my way over to the cheering Hufflepuff table, glancing over at the Ravenclaws to see my dark haired sister clapping and cheering as well. I sent her a smile and gave her a short wave of my hand. A tall, pudgy sixth year boy with dark brown hair and matching eyes stood and motioned for me to take a seat next to him.

"Hello there, welcome to Hufflepuff!" He said jovially, giving me a ruff pat on the back, which kind of startled me. "I'm Stan Smith, one of the prefects. It's nice to meet you!" His round cheeks red, giving him a cheerful appearance.

"And I'm Rory Bones." A brunette girl sitting on the opposite bench said. A few more people introduced themselves as well, the ones who were close enough anyway. And by the time we had all finished with pleasantries seven more first years had been sorted into Hufflepuff and the cycle of 'hello, my name is,' started over again.

The dim lighting casted off by the candles floating above our heads didn't help stave off any tiredness that I felt. But there were still first years being sorted, so we wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. And I was still hyped up from my own sorting.

The girl being sorted right now, didn't look nervous at all surprisingly, but she did look extremely excited. You couldn't hear what she and the Sorting Hat were discussing but they didn't talk long.

"Hufflepuff!" The Hat declared. Instantly our table erupted in cheering and clapping and only increased exponentially when the girl's hair transformed from a normal shade of brown to a crazy combination of yellow and black.

"She's a metamorphmagus!" Rory exclaimed standing up to clap louder. _A metamorphmagus! That's amazing, I've never seen one before!_ The strange girl stomped down the steps and almost tripped on her way down, but barely caught herself _. Oh thank Merlin she didn't fall, that would've been terribly embarrassing!_ I didn't catch her name, but surely it wouldn't be hard to find out. We are in the same house now after all.

I was brought out of my musings by the announcement of Charlie Weasley. My ears perked at the familiar name and I turned back towards the Sorting Hat. There wasn't any conversation between the ratty hat and the freckled boy, McGonagall hadn't even let go of the hat before it was declaring, "GRYFFINDOR!"

The boy's face lit up in joy and pride as he took on a huge grin. And of course the Gryffindor table, the ever rowdy bunch, broke into whoops and hollers and obnoxious clapping. I clapped along with them, glad that Charlie was sorted into the house he was hoping for.

The sorting went by quickly afterwards, Weasley was one of the last names. And the welcoming feast ended shortly thereafter as well. I have never seen so much food in one place before! And it just kept coming! _That first year fifteen is looking more and more likely. Who could say no to all this food!?_ And when I was positive that I was going to explode from being so full, Head Master Dumbledore excused us first years to go see our dorms. _Here we go!_

Stan, our prefect, and Joanna the other, had us all stand up and lead us all out of the Great Hall. I twisted around to take one last look at the Hall before the crowd pushed us along. But the only thing I got were glimpses of floating candles and bobbing heads. I wasn't disappointed at this, I knew I would be in there probably hundreds of times over the next seven years.

I wasn't exactly sure where the Hufflepuff entrance was located, seeing as none of my siblings or parents were in my house. _My house! That feels so weird to think about!_ But I sure wasn't expecting us to be headed for the dungeons! I became a little anxious when we started moving _down_ stairs instead of up them. _Oh no! I hope we aren't in the dungeons with the Slytherins!_ Weren't all the dormitories upstairs? I knew to get to Ravenclaw and Gryffindor you had to go up the stairs, not down them!

Apparently I wasn't the only one with this thought. The metamorphmagus girl popped up beside me, with her crazy yellow and black stripped hair. Her hair wasn't even blonde, it was definitely yellow! I knew blonde hair, mine was blonde, this was for sure straight up yellow! It was awesome.

"You don't think they're takin' us down with the Slytherins do ya?" She asked stepping in line with me, speaking loudly and without care. She was a pretty girl, nice big brown eyes, pale skin, but her nose was a bit crooked. I vaguely wondered if she morphed her nose to look like that or it was just her natural feature.

"I sure hope not! I was wondering the same, but they went down a different staircase so I think we're safe." I replied hopefully, looking around at the poorly lit hallways. The girl nodded thoughtfully and as we rounded another corner she suddenly jerked forward, literally tripping over her feet. I reached out frantically and grabbed her shirt sleeve, steadying her. _She really is a klutz!_

"Thanks!" She laughed out. "You'll see I do that a lot, I'm a little clumsy." The odd haired girl laughed again good naturedly. I glanced down at her feet, the reasons for her clumsiness and noticed that instead of the usual black uniform shoes, she had on clunky, yet sturdy looking combat boots. I couldn't tell if they helped ground her or if they were part of the problem.

I laughed along with her, I didn't doubt her for a second, she did seem extraordinarily ungraceful. Our conversation quieted when Stan and Joanna started spieling about Hufflepuff history. It was then that we started to smell food again. _Had we somehow ended back up at the Great Hall?_ The crazy haired girl and I shared a confused look. We both ended up shrugging our shoulders, we had no idea where we were.

We didn't have to wonder long because we passed a set of doors that Joanna announced lead to the kitchen. _Our dorms are by the kitchens! Not the dungeons!_ This only reminded me of my earlier thoughts of weight gain, but I was too excited by the convenience of having food nearby and not being next to the Slytherins to really care. My new friend and I shared excited smiles, both of us extremely happy with the location.

"Alright first years, listen up, this is very important information!" Stan shouted over our excited chatterings. We all shuffled in closer, standing on tip toes to see over one another.

"These are barrels." Stan said, gesturing to five people sized wooden barrels. I rolled my eyes, _obviously they're barrels. We're first years not incompetent._ "This one here," He continued pointing to the third one, "is the entrance to our dormitories. You have to tap in the rhythm of 'Helga Hufflepuff' for it to open up." He followed his own instructions and the barrel opened up without so much as a creak, letting a warm buttery light to spill out into the dim hallway. "And if you do any of that incorrectly, not only will you not be able to get in but it's also jinxed to dump gross vinegar all over you!"

"Gotta keep those trouble makers out of our house!" Joanna finished for her partner before letting us pile through the doorway.

"More like gotta keep the Slytherins out." My new klutz of a housemate commented humorously. Right before she stumbled through the opening. I smiled at this and giggled, she was definitely going to be fun to be around.

Our common room was round and had a very cozy feeling, the ceilings were low and the windows were circular, charmed to show dandelions and grass blowing lazily as if there was a slow breeze. The copper furnishing and over stuffed yellow and black sofas and chairs gave the room a sunny disposition. It seemed even Professor Sprout had a hodge podge of plants hanging from the ceilings and in the window sills.

Speaking of Professor Sprout, she was already waiting for us inside the common room. She was a kind and warm looking woman with her grey hair and plump figure, she had a very maternal disposition. She felt more like a den mother than our Head of House. _I'm glad we have Professor Sprout instead of McGonagall, or Snape! I don't know how I could handle such scary House Heads!_

She gave us a brief introduction and laid down the general rules. Nothing too hard, just the usual no boys in the girl's dorm and vice versa, no wandering the corridors after ten, stuff like that. And right before she dismissed us for the night, and the Fat Friar made an appearance! He was funny, and had a good hearty laugh. It was weird to see a dead bald monk, but where else would you such amazing thing if not at Hogwarts!

I was tired earlier, but now I had no earthly idea how we were expected to go to sleep! I was much too excited to be able to settle down now! But soon we were released to find our rooms and we all took off in the direction of the dorms.

Our room was very similar to the common area. Our beds were covered in yellow and black patchwork quilts and they were very plush. And there were four-poster copper beds with matching copper lamps and copper bed warmers strung up on the walls. There was a lot of copper. And it turned out that the metamorphmagus, was my roommate!

"Oi, blondie I forgot to ask, what's your name?" The rough around the edges girl questioned when she gracelessly flopped onto her bed upon entering our room, "I know I heard it earlier, but I forgot, sorry." She said unabashedly.

"Oh, it's Emelia Abbott! And that's quite alright I didn't catch yours either." I replied, slightly blushing in embarrassment.

"The names Tonks, well that's my last name anyway, I'm not goin'ta tell ya my first name. It's embarrassing and an awful, terrible name! I don't have any clue what my mother was thinking naming me something so terrible!" She tossed out in one breath, her face as well as her hair going red. Her hair is so cool!

"Alright then Tonks it is!" I agreed, not wanting to push for her first name. She seemed highly passionate about not revealing her first so I didn't find myself too keen to find out. Yet. Our other two roommates was a tall black haired girl named Penelope Puffett and a brunette girl with nice blue eyes named Cassie Kettleburn. We chattered loudly as we rushed around the room fixing our beds and putting up our trunks in an unorganized fashion.

"It can't be that bad, my middle name is Claudia." Cassie complained, scrunching up her face in displeasure.

"So your name is Cassandra Claudia Kettleburn? That is bad!" Penelope said, cackling at our new roommate's unfortunate naming.

"My middle name is Fayeissa." I shared, earning pitying looks from both Cassie and Penelope.

"Alright _that_ beats Claudia." Cassie conceded, shaking her head in amusement and settling down under her covers.

"Well mine is still worse." Tonks replied grimly. Alright now I had to know what her name was! How could her name be worse than Fayeissa? I hoped off my bed and jumped up next to Tonks.

"Ok, now you have to tell us!" I declared, grinning down at the now brown haired girl. Tonks huffed and pulled a face, undoubtedly thinking about how much she hated her name.

"If I tell you though, you'll laugh." She whined, rolling over onto her stomach to hide her face.

"We might," I agreed nodding, "but we're going to be roommates for the next seven years, so fess up Tonks!" the other girls made shouts of agreement, making Tonks groan.

"Alright, alright!" She yelled. "It's Nymfe…" She said trailing off. Penelope, Cassie and I shared a confused look.

"What was that Tonks? You were talking into the bed just then, we didn't catch that." Penelope commented. Tonks groaned again, but this time her response was much clearer.

"It's Nymphadora ok!" She said loudly, her hair going from a dull pink to a bright red again. I winced, _That is bad. At least Fayeissa is just my middle name._ We didn't laugh immediately, we tried to hold it in, we tried to be considerate of Tonks. But one look at each other's pinched faces, contorted with withheld laughter, we lost it.

"Merlin Tonks! _Nymphadora?!_ " Cassie wheezed out, holding her stomach because she was laughing so much. Penelope couldn't even talk, tears were streaming down her face and she was guffawing so hard she was scarily silent. I wasn't much better off.

"Shuddup!" Tonks yelled unhappily, slamming her head back into the bed. "My-mother-is-crazy!" She mumbled into the quilt. That only increased our giggling and it seemed to be infectious as Tonks eventually chuckled a little bit too.

When we finally calmed down, the day started to catch up with us. I could feel my eyes getting heavy, they even drooped some. So we called it a day and crawled under the covers to go to sleep. I didn't really have time to process the day before I was drifting off. I was basically asleep the second my head touched the pillow. The last thing I remember thinking about was that I should probably send mum and dad a letter soon. I had loads to tell them!

OK hope you liked it! Again please read and review! But please remembered I'm not a professional writer, nor have I studied writing so please be kind when it comes to my grammar and writing style! But helpfulness is always welcomed! Anyhoos thanks for reading!

-emmacrade14


	2. The First Flying Lesson

**So my plan is to just do a few one shots per year before catching up with the timelines in the books. There will probably be big time jumps (no more than a few months) between some of the chapters. Anywhos hope you like this chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling so I do not own her world of Harry Potter, but I do own Emelia Abott.**

 _(September 14, 1984, Hogwarts Castle, 11: 24 a.m.)_

The first couple weeks at Hogwarts were crazy, I knew Hogwarts was big, but I got lost on the way to almost every class! It was dreadful, the stairs move, there's too many floors, the classrooms aren't numbered and did I mention the stairs _move_! Honestly I had originally thought that my siblings had just been trying to scare me when they told me about Hogwarts but I was beginning to realize that it was everything they had said. _Oh no, does that mean there are ghouls living in the Shrieking Shack?_

The first couple days we barely made it to class on time. I thought for sure Professor Snape was going to feed us to the Lake Monster when we showed up one minute late! But Tonks had tripped on a desk leg upon entering, and I swear Professor Snape had smirked at that, but it was hard to tell because his face only has one expression, I think that's why he let us off though.

On the second day we had to stop a Slytherin sixth year and ask for directions to the Herbology garden, and the git sent us to the Quidditch fields! How embarrassing is that, a bunch of Hufflepuffs _not_ knowing where the Herbology Greenhouse is!

Tonks had threatened to hunt him down when we realized he had tricked us. She said that she was going to and I quote, "Tie the slimy git to the Whomping Willow and watch it turn him into snake bits." Tonks is a little abrasive I've noticed. Alright a lot abrasive. But only because she doesn't let anyone walk over her.

Needless to say though, we did not allow our sweet little roommate to track down the Slytherin. We were late already, we didn't want to miss class completely. Thankfully we weren't the last ones to show up, a pair of Ravenclaw students had gotten lost too. Still though, it was embarrassing to be late. But after the first few days we fell into a routine.

Most of the classes were interesting, except History of Magic and Astrology, two weeks in and it's already a struggle! History is too boring to follow along with and Astrology is at night! Penelope has had to kick me awake multiple times during the lesson to make sure I didn't fall asleep.

But Charms and Defense are my favorites by far! Mostly because we get to use our wands a lot in our Iessons. We get to use magic in Transfiguration too but I'm not very good at it though. But Tonks is exceptional at it, if she wasn't, I would have been surprised her being a metamorphmagus and all. I think Tonks is the reason why I like the class so much, all she does is make funny animal faces and play with her hair. Professor McGonagall hadn't been too happy at her for disrupting class though. But you could tell she was impressed or at the very least amused.

And speaking of Tonks I could hear her running, well more like galloping with all the noise she was making, down the corridor.

"Wotcher Emelia! I told you to wait for me didn't I?" Tonks shouted, waving her arms spastically to attract my attention. Her hair was its normal color, well it was bubblegum pink but that's normal for Tonks. After leaving History, Tonks had rushed to the restroom and made us promise to wait for her before heading out to our flying lesson. But she had taken ages!

"Yes, but you said you'd be in the loo for five minutes. And that was _twenty_ minutes ago." I replied with my hands on my narrow hips. Tonks scoffed and stuck her chin in the air indignantly.

"Yeah, well there was a queue, so it took some time." She defended. "Where are Penelope and Cassie anyways?" She asked looking around. We continued walking down the hall, towards the front entrance. The perks of being the eleven is that we could easily weave in out between the older students without much problem. The downside though, is that if we weren't careful we could be trampled.

"They're already at the fields, they decided you were too slow." Tonks rolled her eyes, "But I waited, you're welcome _Nymphadora_." I said sassily. Her hair flared red briefly.

"I told you not to call me that!" She whined, stopping in her tracks, causing a Gryffindor to swerve out of the way in order to avoid running into her.

"I'm just teasing you Tonks!" I said, pulling her forward by her shirt. "Quite being a baby, we can't be late for our first flying lesson!" This seemed to snap her out of her minor fit. Her hair returned to normal and she grinned before picking up her pace.

"Come on then!" She shouted, yanking on my shirt this time and dragging me forward.

We all but ran through the hallway, earning a, "No running in the halls!" from Professor Flitwick. But Tonks and I only giggled and slowed to a trot. Truthfully I wasn't all that eager for our flying lessons, but I also didn't want to be late to _another_ class.

I hadn't realized that our flying class was being held with the Gryffindors until we walked up to the field. I was glad it wasn't with Ravenclaw, Andrew Davies' hand was up in the air more than a professional Quidditch player, and he had been it in our faces all week. Penelope had the unfortunate luck as to have to sit next to him in Potions. And all he did the entire period was kiss up to Professor Snape. He was so obnoxious.

"Oi Abbot!" It was Charlie Weasley. He was waving energetically, his ginger hair looked as if he hadn't brushed it in a week. Charlie was standing in the middle of a group of Gryffindors; Penelope and Cassie were with them as well. When he shouted to us, the whole group turned to watch us approach.

"It's Weasley," Tonks noted with a smirk. Charlie was in our Defense and Charms classes, and he had made the decision to sit in the row next to us. And he just _loved_ to pester Tonks and I. Tonks and he have been getting into all sorts of trouble, those two can't stop messing around for five seconds! It's a miracle they haven't landed in detention yet.

"It's like he's following us." I joked, getting a snicker out of Tonks.

"Wotcher Weasley!" Tonks hollered. I rolled my eyes, _We're only ten feet away Tonks, no need to yell._ I thought wryly.

"Hello Charlie. Boys." I said greeting the group.

"Hey girls!" Leo Stimpson replied back with a grin. He was kinda cute, you know in the technical sense anyway…He had pretty brown eyes and nice honey colored hair, a nice face…anyway he was Charlie's roommate as well. My ears warmed up a bit though when he looked over at me.

"Hey Hufflepuffs, come to join the party?" Charlie's other roommate Thomas Paley asked. He kind of reminded me of Penelope, he was lanky and had dark hair like her.

"What party? All I see is a bunch of boring Gryffindors millin' round!" Tonks bantered back with a smirk. I shook my head at my roommate. Sometimes her joking was just ridiculous.

"We are _not_ boring Nymph-"

"I wouldn't finish that sentence if I were you Paley." Leo suggested, interrupting his friend before he made a fatal mistake. Thomas scoffed and waved his friend's advice off.

"What? It's not like Tonks is 'she-who-must-not-be-named'." Thomas countered chuckling at his own pun.

"Oi! Watch it Gryffindor, I'll clock you good!" Tonks threatened raising her fists menacingly. Leave it to Tonks to use physical violence instead of the magical kind. I rolled my eyes, _I feel like I do that a lot around Tonks_. I noticed.

"Alright enough chit chat! Let's learn how to ride a broom!" Madame Hooch yelled as she approached our class levitating a box full of brooms that trailed behind her, effectively cutting the argument short. "Come on now don't be shy, everyone grab one!" The short haired woman instructed while allowing the wooden bin to settle on the grass.

Our group surged forward and I yanked out one of the brittle old riding brooms. They were training broomsticks, meaning they were low level flyers and relatively lame.

"Now line up you lot! In two rows," She waited for us to follow her orders, "Mhmm there you go, good! Now, place your brooms on the ground….very good, now stand to one side and extend your hand over it like so," I did as she asked and moved to the left side of my broom and stuck my right hand over it. "Alright now I want you all to clearly say 'up'."

So for the next couple minutes what you heard was twenty or so high pitched eleven year voices shouting 'up'. And a couple kids only had to say it once or twice before the broom flew into their awaiting hands. Charlie was one of those lucky kids, that git. He shot me a proud smirk, but all I did was glare back. My broom wasn't nicely placed in my hand, it was comically rolling on the ground, beating the grass.

"Up…uuup…UP!" Tonks yelled, and then gave a short victory laugh" HA! There ya stupid broom that wasn't so hard now was it?" When it leapt into her palm. I huffed _Come on now stop being difficult!_ Cassie had hers up quickly as well, but Penelope didn't, so that gave me feel a little better.

"Come on broom...UP!...up!" I scowled and let out a sigh, " _Please?_ " Apparently that was the magic word because the broom flew up, slapping itself into my hand. "Oh!" I squeaked out of surprise _that had actually worked._

"There you go Emelia!" Cassie cheered. I grinned stupidly, looking down at the old broom in my grip. I'd been on brooms a bit before. My dad taught us all the basics when we were little. But I'm not a big fan of heights, so I haven't ridden one in a few years. And that made me more than a little anxious.

A loud 'whoop' took me away from my nerves for a moment when Penelope managed to call her broom up. She raised it above her head like a trophy and cheered. _And who said every Hufflepuff is modest?_ I thought humorously. The last person to finish was Gabrielle Greengrass, a short brunette from Gryffindor and instead of cheering she just looked relieved.

"Very good, very good all." Madame Hooch said briskly pacing between us. "Now, I want you to mount your brooms and on my whistle push off of the ground, hover for a moment, then lean forward and touch back down."

Pushing my robes to the side I straddled the broom nervously. _This is it, I can do this! It's only a couple feet up in the air. No big deal._ I took a deep breath and shared an anxious grin with Cassie who was standing to my right.

Cassie had the same issue with brooms that I did, she was a muggle born though so at least her fears had real weight, she had never been on or seen a flying broom before so of course she was nervous! But I was a pure blood who grew up around brooms, I shouldn't hate them this much!

We were up all last night worrying about all the possible 'what would happen if…' We worked ourselves up so much that Penelope threatened to call Madame Pomfrey and have a calming draught brought to us. She was bluffing of course, at least I hope so, but it pacified us enough to get to sleep.

Madame Hooch gave us a shrill blow of her whistle, and unsurely I hopped into the air, praying the broom would hold me there. I squeezed my eyes shut and scrunched up face when I felt the familiar slow bounce of a floating broom. _Merlin! I'm in the air!_

"Oi, Abbott! You're supposed to keep your peepers open!" The annoying voice of Charlie advised loudly. _Yes, thank you for that Charlie._ I thought dryly, slowly opening my eyes. Our first push off was uneventful so far. There was a hum of excited chattering and everyone was bobbing lazily a couple feet above ground, the taller kids like Penelope and Thomas had the tips of their shoes brushing the grass every once in a while.

An abrupt thought came to me and I jerked my head to left in slight alarm. _Tonks! She's probably fallen off her broom! Or worse!_ But when I spotted her on the other side of Cassie, curiously enough my pink haired friend was easily hovering in place. She caught my stare and smirked.

"Thought I'd have tumbled off by now, aye Emelia?" She asked amusedly. "Well have no fear I'm great on a broom! Downright graceful if I say so myself." The normally clumsy girl added smugly. And to prove her point she leaned backwards and broke ranks with us, flying over to me.

"See? Easy!" The metamorphmagus laughed. I smiled at her, _At least one of us is good at flying._

"Miss Tonks get back to your spot!" Madame Hooch scolded. Tonks grumbled but flew back to where she came from. When our professor was satisfied with our first hover, she allowed us to touch back down. I sighed in relief when I felt the solid earth underneath my shoes.

"Did you see that? We were great!" Cassie cheered, hugging onto me. I giggled and hugged back.

"Yeah, we were _amazing._ " I agreed, although I said it a little sarcastically, I was still a little proud of myself.

"Ok settle down! Yes it's all very exciting." Madame Hooch said dismissively, "Now, we are going to do the same thing a few more times, just so you can get a good feel for hovering before we continue on."

I was perfectly fine with this, being that I was none too eager to get more than a couple feet off the ground. But Tonks and Charlie, among others, groaned at the fact all we would be doing was floating in place. They were more experienced than the rest of us at flying so they were quite bored with our lesson. I don't get the appeal of flying, most of my family uses brooms, but I can't stand them!

 _Much to my displeasure, Madame Hooch had us up in the air again. This time I_ didn't close my eyes though. Maybe it was just the training brooms that made me a little more nervous than I thought I was going to be because they don't have a seat or feet rests like normal riding brooms do, it's all too easy to slip off. Either way they made me uneasy. I crossed my ankles, giving my legs something to do other than dangle uselessly.

So that's what we did for another twenty minutes; hovered then landed, hovered then landed. I was impressed with how long Tonks was able to follow directions and continue on with the exercise, even if she did complain the whole time about being bored. But apparently twenty minutes was her limit because her patience soon ran out.

When Madame Hooch turned her back on our side of the group Tonks took it as an opportunity to zip across the gap between the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors and situate herself next to Leo and Charlie. They were grinning like idiots, and started whispering. _Whatever they're planning, they better not bring it over here._

Madame Hooch still hadn't turned around when Tonks zipped in between Penelope and myself. I then became impressed that she was so stealthy on a broom. I gave her a curious look at her suspicious behavior.

"Tonks what are you doing?" Penelope asked in a hushed tone, trying not to draw our professor's attention.

"Nothing! Just having a little fun s'all." Tonks replied mischievously, shooting glances in Madame Hooch's directions. Charlie and Leo started chuckling quietly from across the way and started whispering to Thomas, who shook his in amusement and whispered something back. "You should definitely join me though." She added.

"I thought you were doing nothing." I replied frowning. Tonks shrugged and started grinning again.

"All we're gunna do is fly around the school a bit is all." Tonks said nonchalantly. And by 'we' she meant Charlie, Leo, and Thomas as well.

"I don't know Tonks, we'll get in trouble…" I said in a mild attempt to reason with her. If they wanted to do it, there was no way I was going to be able to convince them otherwise. Tonks scoffed and made a comment about how 'trouble' was her middle name. I rolled my eyes.

"You don't have a middle name." Cassie interjected in a matter-of-fact voice.

"Ah, but if I did it would be 'Trouble'." Tonks clarified, sending Cassie a wink. _No, it would mostly likely be 'Clumsy' but I see your point._ "I don't know about the rest of you girls but I'm bored, so I'm going flying!" She said with her grin stretching across her face.

"Tonks…" I chided, but it went over her head.

"Come _on_ Emelia, now's not the time for shyness!" She said a little louder than she would have liked. We all turned towards Madame Hooch nervously, but she was occupied with helping Taylor Whortle.

"Tonks I don't think—"

"Come off it Tonks! We'll get in trouble." Penelope whined cutting me off.

"And we aren't good at flying like you!" Cassie reminded her. Tonks rolled her eyes and groaned.

"Flying isn't difficult! Here I'll show you." Before I could say anything in protest, Tonks latched onto the front of my broom and started pulling me along with her. Startled, I quickly grabbed onto the broom tightly and crouched lower to it.

"Tonks let go!" I hissed. But she just laughed and shook her head.

"You'll be fine, don't be such a scaredy cat!" _I'm going to kill her._

"Let go!" I repeated. She did the exact opposite, and started pulling us towards the Gryffindor side. Figuring then I would help myself if she wouldn't let go, I leaned back like I saw her do earlier, hoping it would make me go backwards and out of Tonks' grasp. But in my apprehension I pulled back too quickly and too forcefully so instead of going back I shot upwards.

I let out a panicked cry and tried to bring myself closer to the broom, praying that I didn't fall off. I was almost twenty feet up in the air! But the broom took that as the go ahead to move forward, and it took off.

" _Nymphadora!_ " I shrieked in alarm, squeezing my eyes shut. _I'm going to kill her! I'm going to kill her, and then bring her back to life, and then kill her again! Please don't fall! Please don't fall!_ I vaguely registered my classmate's shouts, I was too busy trying not to die! _Oh, Merlin!_

I could feel the beginnings of panic coming on, I was _terrified_ of heights! So I kept my eyes closed and just wished that the broom would stop itself. It felt like minutes, but it was probably only a few seconds before I felt someone take hold of my broom and bring us both the a stop.

My first thoughts were that Madame Hooch had taken someone's broom and come up to get me, or at least Tonks. But to my surprise it was Charlie. He was flying right alongside me, holding tight to my broomstick. He was so close I could see all the freckles on his face.

"Couldn't wait for the rest of us then Abbott?" He joked. I just stared at him, wide eyed and gave no response. I was afraid the next thing out of my mouth would be a terrified scream. He knew I hadn't just decided to take a joy ride, but the joke only made me feel a pinch better. I was just relieved I was no longer hurdling through the air like a rocket.

"Stupid broom." I muttered darkly, "Stupid Tonks." Charlie laughed at this, and started moving us down wards.

"Don't worry about it, my little brother Percy is pretty worthless on a broom too." Charlie commented amiably. Normally I would've been peeved that he had basically insulted me, but I was a little occupied with the ever approaching ground. "Just don't look down, yeah?" He added. The second he said that I immediately closed my eyes to stave off the temptation. _Well now I want to look down!_

My face was matching Charlie's hair, I was sure of it. _First day of our flying lesson and I muck it up! Though I mostly blame Tonks!_ It didn't take long for us to reach the ground and as soon as we did Madame Hooch was all over us.

"What in the world happened? You were supposed to be hovering, not flying Miss Abbott!" She scolded crossly.

"I'm sorry Madame Hooch! I had floated forward accidentally and I only meant to move back a bit." I admitted, it was the truth well half-truth anyway, "but I was nervous so I pulled back too hard." I finished abashedly, tugging on the end of my robes. A habit of mine.

Madame Hooch sighed and shook her head, mumbling something like 'this happens every year' under her breath.

"I see. Well are you alright then?" She asked in a gentler voice, straightening my uniform for me. The rest of our class had surrounded us by now and were all staring at me curiously. I found myself grateful again that Andrew Davies wasn't there. I nodded at her question and vainly tried to smoothen my windblown hair.

"Yes, I'm ok." _Still freaking out on the inside, but I'll be fine!_ I thought bitterly. I spotted my roommates behind Madame Hooch, they looked a little worried especially Cassie, and Tonks just looked guilty.

"Nothing that some good pumpkin juice won't cure I'm sure." Charlie commented, _Always thinking about food that one._ Some of the kids giggled in agreement.

"Of course," Madame Hooch conceded, "Thank you, Mister Weasley for your help, I'm sure Miss Abbott greatly appreciates your assistance."

"Yes, thank you Charlie." I murmured sheepishly, barely able to look at him. He smiled and nodded at me.

"What are friends for Abbott?" He replied brightly. I attempted to smile back at him, positive that my weak attempt had a pitiful outcome. The warmth in my cheeks was becoming uncomfortably hot as the staring of my classmates started to get to me. Again I reiterate that I loathe being in the spotlight.

"Right then. Let's get back to it, move along everyone!" She yelled, shooing the group back to the brooms they had left behind. This relieved some of the growing tension that I felt now that there was less of a crowd since most of them shuffled back. However my roommates and Charlie's stayed behind.

"Are you ok?" Cassie asked worriedly as she moved closer.

"I'm fine." I said unconvincingly causing Cassie to frown. Honestly I was shaking, from being peeved at Tonks but mostly from embarrassment and the fact I was still feeling the aftereffects of my disaster of a broom ride.

"I'm sure Madame Hooch won't expect you to get back on a broom today, I mean she already put it back in the bin." Penelope pointed out trying to reassure me. I nodded glumly, self-consciously playing with my sleeve.

"Yeah, you're a messy rider that's for sure!" Thomas exclaimed with a laugh. Only to be slapped in the shoulder by Cassie who gave him a disapproving glare.

"Thank you, I'm well aware." I muttered glaring at the dark haired boy.

"I'm shocked she didn't take away any House points." Leo mentioned. _Me too, I thought that was what she was going to do we she started questioning me._

"Same, I thought for sure she would!" Penelope admitted.

"Nah, the professors are always soft on Hufflepuffs." Thomas said in faux jealousy.

"Not our fault we're better!" Penelope bantered back, tossing her hair behind her shoulder saucily. Thomas scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest.

"That's not a very nice thing for a Hufflepuff to say." He mocked. Penelope stuck her tongue out at him childishly.

"So are you sure, you're alright Emelia, you look a little pale." Cassie asked again.

I gave an aggravated huff, "I'm fine. Let's just get back to the lesson." I said more sharply than I had planned on. They nodded quickly and moved eagerly, ready to escape my moodiness.

Tonks had remained silent during the short exchange, only giving me sad guilt ridden looks. I didn't quite feel like talking to her at the moment. I was still cross with her, but I felt guilty for making her guilty _._ That certainly was an odd mix of emotions to have.

Madame Hooch didn't make me rejoin the class like Penelope predicted, but she did tell me that I'd have to participate next Friday. I had to try to not frown in front of her, I was hoping to never again touch a broom. Of course I wouldn't be that lucky. She also gave the class a speech on broom safety, which I feel she should have started out the lesson with.

So I sat on the ground, picking at the grass. I didn't miss anything, all Madame Hooch had them do was hover and for the rest of the hour, she probably wasn't eager to have another rogue broom rider. And _thankfully_ nothing else happened, after my mishap everyone decided to behave and follow directions.

Eventually we were released and after the others put their brooms up in the bin we headed back inside. I had cooled off enough to only be mildly annoyed at Tonks, instead of wishing for her death. She had a miserable expression on her face the rest of the lesson, so that put a damper on my hot head. I've never been one to hold grudges, and that hasn't always been a good thing. And who could hold a grudge against Tonks when her hair was such a sad shade of brown?

It was lunch time when we finished so we moved together in a big clump to the Great Hall. One thing I noticed about our Hufflepuff and Gryffindor first year class was that we were a lot chummier with one another than we were with the other Houses. That felt like a cliché occurrence though because Merlin knows the Gryffindors won't be paling around with the Slytherins.

"I wish she would let us do more than just hover! I thought I was going to fall asleep right there!" Leo complained. He, Charlie and Thomas were walking a short distance ahead of us in the hallways.

"I know! But just think, once we join the Quidditch team we'll be able to fly whenever we want!" Charlie said excitedly, practically vibrating in anticipation.

"First years can't try out for the team." Cassie reminded. Charlie frowned, shoulders deflating like he just remembered this.

"Way to kill my dreams Kettleburn." He said sulkily. Cassie just shrugged and laughed at his sad expression.

"I'm sure Emelia's glad that's all we had to." Thomas said poking fun at me. I sent him a glare and was about to respond but Cassie whacked him again for me. Good ole Cass. "What?" He whined, "Too soon?" Cassie shook her head and rolled her blue eyes.

"Thomas it's only been an hour, so yeah I'd say too soon." Cassie said sassily getting a chuckle out of Penelope and Leo. I smiled at her, I had noticed that Cassie lived up to loyal part of being a Hufflepuff more than the rest of us. She was ready to, in the muggle term, go to bat for us at any time.

Tonks was pretty good about sticking up for our little band as well. She had no problem having shouting matches with anyone who spoke ill about her, or her friends. Speaking of Tonks, she hadn't made a peep the whole walk and we were almost to the Great Hall.

I frowned, her hair was still a mousy brown, a sign of her morose disposition. And it wasn't hard to guess what was bothering her. I slowed my walking and fell into step with her.

She glanced side long at me before nervously looking away. Her hair kind of flickered briefly to a lighter brown before going back to the previous shade giving away her discomfort.

"Wotcher." Tonks mumbled not bothering to look up from her gaze that she had fixated on the bottom of Cassie's shoes in front of us.

"Hello." I muttered self-consciously. It was a weird feeling to be mad at her, but to also feel guilty that she was feeling guilty. Sometimes being a Hufflepuff had its down sides. Tonks ran a hand through her unkempt hair before rubbing at her neck awkwardly.

"So, um…" She trailed off uncertainly, before coughing nervously, "Merlin, I didn't think apologizing would be this hard." This caused me to smile briefly at her honesty, which seemed to encourage her. "Yeah, so um sorry for causing…all that," She said unsure of what to call our little disaster, "I shoulda let go when ya asked me to. Oh, and uh, thanks for not snitchin' on me to Hooch." Tonks finished quickly her cheeks turning red, the evidence of her embarrassment. She glanced again at me before averting her gaze to her clunky shoes.

"I know you didn't mean anything by it," I told her, "I'm just awful on a broom and terrified of heights." I continued, hoping to appease her sulking.

"Yeah I kinda got that." She said with a short smile. "I'm really sorry." She apologized again.

"It's ok, I forgive you." I squeezed her hand and smiled before letting go. "I'm still cross of course. You might have to do my transfiguration homework for me to make it up." I teased studying my nails nonchalantly.

She laughed obnoxiously at that, albeit it was more subdued that usual, and her hair began to morph into a light purple color. I haven't seen that one before, I don't even think she noticed that her hair changed.

We split from the Gryffindors when we entered the Great Hall in favor of sitting at our House table. Thomas and Charlie made us promise to meet them in the library on Sunday to finish up our Defense homework, which was an easy enough request.

There was an Italian theme to our lunch today; that meant piles and piles of pastas, pastries, and seafood. _They sure are spoiling us here, I'm never going to be able eat my mother's cooking ever again!_

Tonks was in a better mood now that food had been set in front of her, I was too, food makes everything better. _Listen to me I sound like Charlie and Leo._ I thought with a scoff. The Great Hall was pretty empty, our lesson had let us out for the last hour of lunch so it had cleared out, and only a few students were spread sporadically throughout the hall.

"So Charlie was quick to take off after you." Penelope commented conversationally as she reached out to steal the fruit bowl later on in our meal. I looked up from my Charms notebook and gave her a quizzical stare.

"Oh yeah?" I responded before turning my attention back to my notes. I had been trying to memorize the wand motions for the Sonorus charm. _Slight wrist flick, twist of wand to the left, never right! Then point to neck…_

"Mhmm, we didn't know what to think when you took off," Tonks said while simultaneously stuffing her face full of linguini noodles, "but the second you started screaming ole Weasley boy jumped into action faster than a chimaera after a cockatrice." Cassie's face contorted in confusion, the reference flew past her.

"Hmm, that _is_ fast." I said giggling at her word choice and scrawling reminders onto my papers.

"What did you say? Camaro and a cockatoo?" Cassie asks getting laughs from all of us. Poor Cass was the only muggleborn in our group, so some things we said, she didn't get. Which worked both ways, some of her muggle reference left the rest of stumped. Like televisions, they were like wizard portraits that talked as well as moved? They made no sense.

"Not a cockatoo! A cockatrice! It's an ugly little creatures with a rooster head and a lizard tail, kind of like dragons only with more feathers and smaller." Penelope corrected. I set my things aside in order to pay attention better.

"Yeah and _chimaeras_ have lion heads, a goat body and dragon tails. And they love to eat cockatrices!" Tonks added slightly wired up at the topic, she always got excited when talking about magical creatures, the more dangerous the better. Cassie looked horrified at the explanation, it was hilarious.

"How is that possible? Those creatures sound made up." She said shaking her brunette head in bewilderment.

"I don't know, some people say it's magic!" I teased, waving spirit fingers at her comically. Cassie rolled her eyes at my lame joke.

"Thaaaaaanks." She replied dryly before shoving a roll into her mouth.

"Come on Cass, you should know by now that _everything_ that happens here is magic." Tonks scolded playfully. Cassie turned to comment but ended up yelping in shock and stumbling off the bench in the opposite direction when she realized Tonks had morphed her schnoz into a chicken's beak, looking very much like a cockatrice.

Who ever said that Hufflepuffs were dull?

 **Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed! Please R &R! I will hopefully update soon! **

**-emmacrade24**


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